Sunday, February 24, 2013

Success!

Maisie has been diaper free (excluding sleeping times- i.e naps and bedtime when we use pull ups) for the last four days and has only had two accidents, one of which she was trying to run to the bathroom so I don't really count it because she sure was trying. She is comfortable using the potty for both types of bodily waste and insists on doing it herself. Other than the occasional reminding from my part, she has been doing it by herself. She loves all the praise and our "you did it!" dances. She beams when I tell her how proud I am of her.

Weeks earlier, I was starting to become discouraged with the whole potty training bit because Maisie absolutely had no desire to use the potty. Since her second birthday we have tried a handful of times to get the ball rolling, but to no avail. We would try to help her along, but the more we insisted the more she pulled back and started to become terrified of the whole concept. So, I was frustrated because I know how smart she is and I was convinced that once she did it one time it would click and she would be ecstatic with her big girl status. So when it was obvious that she was going in her diaper I ripped her diaper off and ran her to the potty. She resisted, but I timed it right and there was no stopping the inevitable. Sure enough potty happened and I twirled her around and kept saying over and over "you did it Maisie! I am so proud of you!" I also gave her some semi-sweet chocolate chips (5 for #2 and 3 for #1) and the reward on top of the praise was an instant hit. She immediately wanted to go again (and again and again). It's been smooth sailing since. Remember the pacifier weaning? That was all her idea with a little reassuring from us, she did wonderfully. Potty training just needed to be "her idea" and with our support she had the confidence to finally do it.